#nord plays bg3

[handsomeamoeba]

WRONG.

Try again.

Actually let's get into this. As someone who loves a great many fantasy RPGs including BG3, Skyrim, and Dragon Age, let me explain what BG3 gets that Skyrim misses, in my opinion.

And this is the big one: the characters in BG3 feel like real fucking people. They have backstories, demonstrable feelings about the events and the other characters, they react to the things you do and they develop as people as you further your relationships. Even minor NPCs often feel fleshed out with distinct personalities and opinions. Hell, going out of my way to cast Speak to Animals is usually rewarded with at least one charming remark. I have never given even a little bit of a shit about 99% of Bethesda NPCs. I usually choose to travel without a companion rather than with unless I need a pack mule to carry my stuff, because their primary function seems to be to get in my way, set off traps, or attract aggro. I can't remember most characters' names unless I'm actively playing. I'm more likely to casually murder people in Skyrim than I am in BG3 or DA because Bethesda hasn't really made any of their NPCs feel like real people, and consequentially I feel no guilt. By comparison I tried to do an evil run of DA:O and gave up the instant I had to kill Wynne (the grandmotherly spirit healer) when she refused to let me go through with my plans, because I hated doing it. Lydia will watch me gut an innocent man and do NOTHING because she has no life, existence, or personality outside of me, the player. This extends to romances, obviously. While optional in all the games, most people will pursue a romance path in BG3 or DA for the additional character arcs it brings to the characters, the emotional nuances they unlock. In Skyrim romance is a box you tick of tasks to complete. In fact, once you marry them, most marriage candidates personalities change *completely* because all spouses have the same few stock dialog lines. That is, if they had a personality to begin with (again, see Lydia). You know how everyone wants to romance unromanceable characters in Bethesda games? Like Brynjolf in Skyrim, or Nick Valentine in FO4? It's because Bethesda actually bothered to give them stories and opinions.

Honestly, this extends to the player character themselves. To a certain extent every player character is a blank slate, but in BG3 and DA it at least feels possible to develop a feeling about who that character is and what they would or would not say or do. I've tried to do that with the Dragonborn and rarely feel strong feelings about them or have strong opinions about what kind of person they are. The only one I've made who I have much of an idea about is my wood elf Parafina, who is Chaotic Evil. Which again is an option I only pick because no one in Skyrim feels real.

The stakes also feel more real in BG3, more personal. Obviously there's the central quest involving the tadpoles, but more than that, it is about a credible threat to your world and the people and communities in it and the people you love. There are tons of reasons to invest yourself emotionally in the narrative. I have never, ever completed the main storyline in Skyrim nor picked a side in Skyrim's civil war. Why would it? Basically nothing happens if I choose not to. Furthermore, if you're not playing as a Nord (which I usually don't), why would you care about Skyrim as a place? You are a faceless, voiceless (pun intended) outsider who gets microaggressed at every turn being asked to choose between two different flavors of fascist. Also dragons are back but like... listen, I don't care? They get pretty easy to pick off at a certain point, it's like swatting flies, they're just a nuisance on the way to my daily errands. And isn't that such a common story? Don't you know so many people who don't really bother with the main storylines of Skyrim? Yeah it's one of the bestselling games of all time but I feel like the fact that most people don't really care about its narrative should be a sign of failure. We all know it's mostly maintained its popularity due to the modding community.

Ultimately both games have rich worlds which reward exploration with little secrets and environmental storytelling. But BG3 feels more "meaningful" because they give me reasons to care about what happens. The writers worked hard to give the game emotional resonance. So I come to the two games for different experiences. I go to BG3 to engage with an interesting story. I go to Skyrim for the quick serotonin hit of completing tasks and hoarding items.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #skyrim #skyrim critical #with all the love in my heart mind you #i was considering not tagging this tbh

[roach-pizza]

[ID: A white square divided into four sections with writing in each.

Top Left: Good Good. "It's Good, and I liked it"

Top Right: Good Bad "It's Good, but I didn't like it"

Bottom Left: Bad Good "It's bad, and I liked it"

Bottom Right: Bad Bad "It's bad, and I didn't like it"]

I haven't seen this kind of chart yet, but I wanted to make something to show the difference between a piece of media that isn't to your tastes, verses something that's actually poor quality. If you wanna know what I mean I have a chart done with games, but this could include any media, including art and music.

Art is subjective, but there is a baseline skill that requires it, and sometimes some people don't have it even if they wanna do it really badly. However I will say that it's also important to know when you don't like a piece of media even if it's well made. Everyone has different tastes, and those should also be respected.

BG3[Good Good]: Can't play it, but that one serious "mean" lady cried, and I wanna protect her to badly, and everyone who disliked her for being mean should apologize right now. She is doing her best. It also won GOTY lol.

Allen Wake 2[Good Bad]: I fucking love everything about this and am looking forward to Control 2. Fuck whatever the mind palace bullshit is. I hate that so much, it kills the game for me, but I will happily watch it.

Forespoken[Bad Good]: The game is very bad on a technical level, but I like the magic tattoo system, and it seems like they had some level of passion, but lacked the technical skills to pull it off. If you need to buy a bad game, buy this one over Starfield.

Skyrim[Bad Good]: It's a mess, pretty bland, but it's a fun romp through a fantasy world. The dragons are stupid lizards akin to flying gnats, and the nords can fuck themselves overall lol.

Starfield[Bad Bad]: Todd said he has been working on this idea for 25 years. You think his team thinks the player base is stupid, and will just eat this up. Also everyone who said "It gets good 30 hours in" I'm sorry, but if you said this about any other piece of media people will think your out of your mind.

#pie chart #media literacy #media analysis

[gatherparty]

you must gather your party before venturing out. a multi-muse featuring original characters based in Dungeons and Dragons, Baldurs Gate 3, Pillars of Eternity, and Elder Scrolls lore. beloved by puffin. low activity & casual. NOTICE ! this is a sideblog ! I follow from @hegrowth !

// don't adventure off alone ! [temp rules + muse list below the cut]

GUIDELINES.

again, this is a sideblog, I will follow from @hegrowth. in general, I greatly prefer you also be following that blog as well to interact with me here.

some quick things... no godmodding, metagaming, or force shipping. I don't send passwords. please cut your posts & turns asks into new threads. do not reblog memes from me, please reblog them from the source. specify a muse when sending in an ask, otherwise I'll pick or won't respond. anon is off.

I don't write NSFW / smut, but I'm okay with discussing spicy things ooc. I will not ship with minors for this reason, but am okay with interacting otherwise.

I ask that you please do not softblock me. it causes me a lot of anxiety. I support blocking freely and do so myself, I just ask you please hardblock me instead of softblocking. I do not softblock, so if it appears you've been softblocked by me then it was a mistake / tumblr glitch, feel free to follow again !

I don't own nor am I affiliated with BG3, DnD, Elder Scrolls, or PoE. I'm just developing some kids in those universes and hope you enjoy my portrayals. don't steal my meta please !

I don't have many icons, and for some muses none, so I won't use them most likely, unless I find a faceclaim. I typically match length in responses.

please know I am currently very slowly playing through Baldurs Gate 3, so characters, meta, etc will all be updated as I get through the game. I personally find the exploration and route opportunities to be incredibly overwhelming, so please be patient with me. that said, this blog will contain spoilers and discussions of events and characters, as I play.

lastly, my discord is available. I match energy so if you talk with me and engage ooc then I will reciprocate, and I'll most likely have more inspiration and ideas for interactions. I like talking with my partners. the more we talk ooc the more I'll want to do things ic, honest to god. so just be friendly ! I don't bite.

MUSE LIST.

skyrim / elder scrolls based.

Lightfoot | Female Khajiit | Thief

Rnya | Female Bosmer | Herbalist

Wushaye | Genderfluid Argonian | Daedra Hunter

Hanvi | Genderfluid Nord/Altmer | Adventurer

Juniper Moth | Genderfluid Redguard/Imperial | Adventurer

Vailis | Male Dark Elf | Necromancer

Jasyra | Non-binary Khajiit | Dragonborn

Jasyk | Female Khajiit | Dragonborn

Sajviri | Non-Binary Khajiit | Adventurer [ESO based]

baldurs gate 3 / dungeons and dragons based.

Kryn | Female Tiefling | Fighter [Dark Urge]

Phin | Non-binary Drow | Monk

Erelrae | Female Drow | Cleric of Selune

(unnamed) | Female High Elf | Fighter + Rogue

(unnamed) | Female Forest Gnome | Druid + Bard

(unnamed) | Male Drow | -------

pillars of eternity based.

Qurae | Female Nature Godlike | Psion Cipher

Xleopatia | Genderfluid Wild Orlan | Ghost Heart Ranger

[mistresstrevelyan]

Introducing Gaia Fiametta Caelion my new main BG3 OC.

Much as I tried to port my Surana into BG3, it just didn’t sit right. So I put my thinking cap on and thus Gaia was born.

And yeah the similarity with Rhia is on purpose. Bc going back to my old notes...she was also my original BG heroine. She was very different then tho. IE she was an elf. Gaia is a half elf with Dunmer heritage a few generations back - note that she share’s my Vestige’s surname Caelion - (IE BG Rhia was the founding mother of the dynasty, then comes Morrowind Rhia, an Imperial who married a Dunmer and a Nord in a triad. I did this way back when thru the Julan and White Wolf of Lokken Mods in Morrowind. Gaia is related to the kids MW Rhia had with Julan). 

Her ancestor, Morrowind’s fabled Nerevarine, the first of the line to be named Rhiannon in centuries:

Being related not only to the SPOILER of BG&2 heroine (Those of you who have played it know the heritage) and Morrowind's legendary Nerevarine Gaia left the Imperial City at the age of 19 to study magic at Candlekeep. She studied there for over a decade and then settled down in Waterdeep. She eventually married a fellow healer, an elven lass called Amelia. But then the abduction happened and Amelia was killed during the event. Traumatized and burning with rage Gaia wants two things: Answers and Revenge. But then she meets a whole slew of companions and....the story will develop from there.

P.S. Do not take every bit at face value, it isn’t my style to fridge wives/gfs. So we’ll see where that goes.

I hope you like her. She will also take over the Main link slot on my blog currently held by my Warrior of Light. No, I’m not quitting on FFXIV but it just doesn’t grab me enough to spotlight the WoL as a main OC at this time.

#Baldur's Gate III #Baldur's Gate 3 #Gaia Fiametta Caelion #Rhiannon Cousland #As she's mentioned #That's right I'm tying together ALL my fave RPG settings in the Rhia 'Verse #Persephone plays BG3 #OC Meta